USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 16
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Nothing could have been more opportune for Whitman's purpose than meeting these people, to whom he immediately proposed to change their des- tination, and join him in his mission beyond the Rocky Mountains. Spalding hesitated on account of his wife's delicate health, and as too hazardous an adventure for women, but Mrs Spalding asked twenty-four hours for prayerful consideration, which ended in their undertaking the mission. Immediate preparations were made for the more extended jour- ney, and Mrs Spalding, without returning to the home of her parents, set her face toward the far-off Oregon.
The company of four, with a reenforcement for the Pawnee mission of Dunbar and Allis, now proceeded to Liberty, Missouri, where they were joined by the fifth Oregon missionary, William H. Gray of Utica, New York, who had been engaged as a mechanic, and secular aid to the mission.20 He was a good-looking young fellow, tall of stature, with fine black eyes, with- out special education, but having pronounced natural abilities, of quick feelings, and a good hater where his jealousy was aroused.
The Indian boys, John and Richard, were of the party, and before leaving the frontier, a boy of six-
19 Private Letter of Mr Spalding. Lecture of Mr Spalding, in Albany States Rights Democrat, Jan. 11, 1858.
20 Gray's Hist. Or., 112; U. S. Ev., H. B. Co. Claims, 159-60.
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WHITE WOMEN ON THE PLAINS.
teen years, named Miles Goodyear, from Iowa, asked the privilege of joining the company as servant and herder. He performed his duties satisfactorily until he arrived at Wyeth's Fort, on Snake River, where he left them to follow a fur-hunting expedition.
Enough has already been said of the mode of travel with the fur company's caravans, but since this was the first attempt of white women to cross the great plains, put down on the maps of that day as a desert country, let me recapitulate so far as to show the outfit of these two women, celebrated by Presbyterian writers as the real pioneers of civilization in the Oregon Territory.
Dr Whitman was furnished by the American Board with the necessary material and implements for begin- ning a settlement, blacksmith's tools, a plough, grain, and seeds to commence farming, and clothing for two years, with many other articles thought indispensable to moderate comfort. At Liberty he bought wagons, with teams, also some pack-animals, riding-horses, and sixteen cows. Additional teams were hired, making quite a train, which was placed in charge of Spalding and Gray, assisted by the Indian boys and Miles Goodyear. At Council Bluffs the additional team- sters were dismissed, and after crossing the Missouri the mission goods were readjusted, and as much as possible reduced in bulk. The journey from Liberty to this point was full of accidents and delays of the march, occurring often through the inexperience of the men in charge; there were broken axles, and gen- eral repairing to be done, and the caravan began to move before the missionary train was ready. By great exertion, however, Whitman was able to over- take Fitzpatrick's company at the Pawnee village on the Loup branch of the Platte River, a few days' travel west of the Missouri. The train now consisted of nineteen carts drawn by two mules tandem ; a light wagon, and two wagons and teams belonging to the
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS. .
same Captain Stuart who had travelled in company with the Lees to the Rocky Mountains in 1834.21
Stuart had for a companion a young English gen- tleman, and a few servants. Another, not belonging to either the fur company or missionary party, was a gentleman called Major Pilcher, of St Louis, Indian agent to the Yankton Sioux, whom Parker, having met him the year before, calls intelligent and candid, and well disposed toward mission enterprises, but who by his foppish dress excited the remarks of at least one of the mission party, who perhaps fancied that he occupied too much of the attention of the two ladies, whom he was good-naturedly desirous of amusing. According to Gray, he wore a suit of fine buckskin trimmed with red cloth and porcupine quills, fine scarlet shirt, and elaborately ornamented moc- casons; and he must have made a conspicuous figure in any company. Major Pilcher was one day showing the ladies some singular salt clay-pits, when going too near the edge it gave way, immersing his fine white mule, himself, and his elegant Indian costume in a bath of sticky liquid clay. It was with difficulty he was extricated, when he joined heartily in the merriment his predicament occasioned.
Aside from the occasional storms to which the travellers were exposed, and the meat diet to which in a short time all were restricted, a summer's journey under the protection of so varied a company was most interesting to the two untravelled women from central New York. Fifty years at Prattsburg, or at the Osage Mission, would not have afforded the oppor- tunities for expansion of thought, or the accumula-
21 From the frequent mention made of him by travellers, Stuart seems to have haunted the Rocky Mountains for more than ten years. Gray asserts that he was 'Sir William Drummond, K. B., who had come to the United States to allow his fortune to recuperate during his absence,' and describes him as a tall figure with face worn by dissipation, and says that he spent his winters in New Orleans. In Niles' Register, lxv. 70-1, 214, 1843, there are references to a party from New Orleans under the leadership of this gentle- man, one of whom was Mr Field of the N. O. Picayune. Lee calls him Captain Stuart, 'an English half-pay officer, who had then, in 1834, been for some time roaming the mountains. Lee and Frost's Or., 122.
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A BRAVE RECEPTION.
tion of experiences, which so long a stretch of travel through novel and wonderful scenes, in the society of men of cultivation and wide observation, offered to these missionary ladies. This episode in their lives may be regarded as not only a kindly, but as a most useful introduction to the duties before them.
Mrs Whitman's lively temperment and perfect health enabled her to enjoy and benefit by these experiences; but Mrs Spalding's strength seemed inadequate to the strain. Her health so rapidly de- clined that fears were felt that she would not be able to finish the journey.
According to custom, the fur company left their carts at Laramie and packed their goods on mules to the rendezvous. But on Mrs Spalding's account Whit- man decided to keep the lighter of his two wagons, and the fur company also decided to take one of theirs to Green River. Loaded wagons had as early as 1829 been driven to Wind River,22 and at different times to various mountain posts, but there was no beaten track as from Fort Laramie eastward. The doctor, who drove his wagon, had, however, little trouble in following the natural highway which leads through the mountains by the Sweetwater or South Pass, and Mrs Spalding was thus carried safely and comfortably to the great camp of the fur com- pany.
Two days before reaching the rendezvous, great consternation was created for a moment by the ap- pearance of a party of ten Nez Percés and Flatheads, who with a few American trappers constituted a self- delegated committee of welcome. Their approach was like the rush of a tornado down a mountain side, the cracking of their rifles and their terrifying yells like the snapping off of the branches of trees before the wind, and the fierce howlings of a tempest. As soon as the white flag carried by the advancing caval- cade was discerned, all fears of the Blackfoot gave
22 Hines' Or. Hist., 408-9.
HIST. OR., VOL. I. 9
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
way, and as the wild hunters swooped down the line a salute was returned as hearty as their own.
The appearance of the natives she had come to teach interested Mrs Spalding more than the antics of the mountain men, who were eager to get a glimpse of white women, many of them having been years in the wilderness without seeing one. To Mrs Whitman the novelty and excitement of the meeting were exhilarating; and when a mountain man with an attempt at deferential courtesy made a military salute and addressed some words to her of respectful compliment, she answered him with gracious and cor- dial bearing. While Mrs Whitman was receiving this attention from gentlemen and trappers, the natives gathered about Mrs Spalding, who, anxious to acquire the Nez Perce language, tried hard to converse with them.
Arriving at the rendezvous, a second grand display was planned and executed by the Flatheads and Nez Percés in honor of the missionary party. The general camp on Green River was in several divisions: the camp of the fur company, surrounding a rude hut which answered for a trading-house; and near by, those of the hunters and trappers, between one hundred and two hundred in number; the missionary encampment; the camp of the English travellers; and those of the sev- eral tribes of Indians who travelled with the American Fur Company-Bannacks, Snakes, Flatheads, and Nez Percés, forming altogether no inconsiderable village, with a vigilant police.
A grand reception was planned in honor of the missionaries, and on the day selected a procession of all the Indians in gala dress was formed at one end of the plain, each tribe having a company of warriors in fighting costume, which was a breech-clout and plenty of paint and feathers. All were mounted, and the fighting men carried their weapons, drums, rattles, and other noisy instruments. When everything was in readiness a terrifying yell burst forth, and to
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AT THE RENDEZVOUS.
a barbarous chorus the cavalcade charged through the valley at frantic speed, and returning in the same manner, performed their skilful evolutions in front of the missionary tent, the whole being con- ducted in the order of a preconcerted military move- ment, the force of several hundred warriors obeying the signal of its leaders as an orchestra obeys the conductor's baton. But although perfect order was maintained, such was the impetuosity of the savages, who gave themselves up to the excitement of this mimic charge, that the women's nerves were sorely tried. When all was over, having done so much to entertain their white friends, the red men began to crowd about the missionaries to satisfy their curiosity.
While the company remained at Green River, Captain Wyeth arrived from Fort Vancouver, having sold his forts and goods to the British company, to the great dissatisfaction of the American traders and trappers, who had not, however, offered less opposi- tion to him than had the Hudson's Bay traders. He was accompanied by Thomas Mckay and John Mc- Leod, a chief trader of the British company, who, after receiving Fort Hall from Wyeth, intended to re- turn to Fort Vancouver, and kindly offered his escort to the missionary party. McLeod told Whitman that he thought, instead of encouraging the American mountain men to follow him and settle in Oregon, it would be more profitable to send a missionary to travel with the camps of the hunters.
Gray, who probably knew of the prejudice created by the publications of Kelley, was prepared to see in this advice opposition to American settlement in the country, and to resent it with his natural warmth; although he had ample opportunities of learning that the character of many of these countrymen of his inade them a dangerous element among the Indians, as Parker could have informed him.25 McLeod
23 + Their demoralizing influence,' says Parker, 'with the Indians has been lamentable, and they have imposed upon them in all the ways that sinful pro-
132
COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
went so far, we are told, as to say that if the mis- sionaries needed assistance in erecting buildings, or making other improvements, the company he served would prefer furnishing it to having these reckless men introduced into the Oregon settlements, all of which advice Captain Wyeth indorsed, though Gray believed it was because he felt the uselessness of opposing the autocrat of Fort Vancouver, whose fixed policy toward unprincipled men, whether Amer- ican or French, was to keep them as much as possible at a distance.
There is no evidence that Dr Whitman shared the feelings of his subordinate; his letters to the Amer- ican Board refer in polite terms to the assistance rendered him by the British fur company, and not to any opposition to his plans. Arrangements were immediately made to proceed to Fort Vancouver, where the missionaries were assured they could replace the farming and blacksmithing tools and other arti- cles which they were advised to leave at Green River as too heavy to be transported on their flagging horses over the difficult route to the Columbia River.
Two or three weeks of rest, with a change of diet, and the favorable effect of the climate on the west- ern slope of the Rocky Mountains, made a decided improvement in the health of Mrs Spalding. But Whitman still hesitated to give up his wagon, which if possible he wished to take to the Columbia River; and lightened of all unnecessary things, he conveyed it with little difficulty as far as Fort Hall, receiving some assistance from the Indians.24
pensities dictate. It is said they have sold them packs of cards at high prices, calling them the bible; and have told them if they should refuse to give white men wives, God would be angry with them, and punish them eternally, etc. Parker's Jour., Ex. Tour, 80-1. Gray himself relates that one whom he met at Green River, and who afterward settled in the Willamette Valley, amused himself teaching his little half-breed son to utter profane sen- tences. Hist. Or., 125. Says Wyeth: 'The preponderance of bad character is already so great amongst traders and their people, that crime carries with it little or no shame.' 25th Cong., 3d Sess., H. Rept. 101.
24 Concerning the Flatheads and Nez Percés, and the correspondence of Parker with Whitman, something should be said in this place. According to
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AN HISTORICAL CART.
At Fort Hall one pair of wheels was taken off and the wagon reduced to a cart.25 Not wishing to be detained by the possible accidents and hinderances of road-making, McLeod advised Whitman to abandon his idea of getting the cart through to the Columbia, time and provisions being of the greatest value from this point westward. But the doctor insisted on driv- ing his carriage to Fort Boisé, keeping up with the pack-train all the way, the worst obstacles to be overcome being sand and sage-brush. At the crossing of Snake River he was in danger of losing his life, the current being too strong for the horses; but by the coolness and dexterity of Thomas McKay, the threatened disaster was averted. Mrs Whitman and Mrs Spalding were ferried over on bulrush rafts, the goods being carried on the backs of the largest horses.
At Fort Boisé, the horses were so worn out that he was forced to relinquish his idea, and the cart was left at this post, where three years later another American traveller found it, and was told that a route had recently been discovered by which wagons could easily pass to the Columbia.
Gray, Parker found it prudent to send no instructions to Whitman at Green River, but only a short note, all of which Wyeth explained as dictated by caution, knowing the efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company to destroy Amer- ican influence in the country. As Parker had not then reached his destina- tion, there could not have been much to say. In the following spring, when he turned back from the Nez Perce country, leaving the Indians to proceed without him to the rendezvous, he mentions writing several letters to be for- warded to the United States from Green River, but does not mention writing to Whitman especiallv. His final directions and advice may have awaited Whitman at Fort Walla Walla, or even at Fort Vancouver, where he undoubt- edly expected Whitman to consult with McLoughlin; and from the fact that missions were established at the identical places chosen by him, this theory would seem to be established. Parker calls the principal chief of the Nez Percés Taiquinwatish; Gray calls him Takkensuitas. Parker does not name the second chief of the Nez Percés; Gray calls him Ishholholhoatshoats, or more frequently ' Lawyer,' a sobriquet applied to him by the mountain men on account of his argumentative powers and general shrewdness, by which he obtained great influence both with his people and with white men. He was son of the chief who took charge of the horses of Lewis and Clarke while those explorers visited the lower Columbia, and was about thirty-six years of age. Both Gray and Parker praise the kindness of these chiefs, and Law- yer became a great favorite with the missionaries, with what reason we shall see hereafter.
25 This cart is historical as the first wheeled vehicle to pass beyond Fort Hall.
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
Some of the cattle were also left at Fort Boisé, being too weak to travel farther; and Whitman re- ceived from the agent in charge an order on Fort Walla Walla for others to supply their places. The women were here presented with "eight quarts of dried corn," all there was at the post, and a precious gift in that country.
On the 1st of September the missionary party arrived at Fort Walla Walla, McLeod having pre- ceded them by a few hours to prepare a suitable re- ception, which, says Gray, must have been witnessed to be fully realized, every demonstration of joy and respect being manifested. The best apartments were placed at the service of the women, and the men were relieved of all care of their horses and cattle; the table was furnished with luxuries in the way of pota- toes, green corn, and melons, and it was like a home- coming to all. Yet in the midst of this enjoyment Gray was warned by Townsend against interfering with the trade of the British company,26 as if the mis- sionaries were indeed a company of traders.
On the 3d the missionary party continued on their way, as it was most important that they should pre- sent at once their letters from the secretary of war, and should consult with McLoughlin on matters con- nected with the establishing of the missions, the pro- curing of mechanics, and the prospect for obtaining supplies. They were accompanied to Fort Vancouver by Pambrun, who was in charge of the furs brought by McLeod. Townsend and McLeod preceded them one day.
Portages were made at all the principal rapids, where the savages were astonished at seeing the white
26 Gray's Hist. Or., 142. This is Townsend's report of the single interview he had with Whitman's party. 'I have had this evening some interesting conversation with our guests, the missionaries. They appear admirably quali- fied for the arduous duty to which they have devoted themselves, their minds being fully alive to the mortifications and trials incident to a residence among wild Indians; but they do not shrink from the task, believing it to be their religious duty to engage in this work.' Nar., 249.
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ARRIVAL AT FORT VANCOUVER.
women treated with so much respect; they did not even carry the goods around the falls, as their own women were compelled to do. In the heart of the mountains a storm of wind detained them in camp three days; after which all went well, the company reaching the saw-milll on the 11th, where the last encampment was made to give opportunity for those changes in dress which even the French voyageurs never neglected on approaching Fort Vancouver. On
the forenoon of the 12th, as to the music of the French boat-songs the bateau rounded the point where stood the fort, the passengers saw two ships lying there gayly decked in flags, while the company's colors waved from the fort. At the landing waited two magnificent- looking men, John McLoughlin and James Douglas, who greeted the missionaries, and escorted the ladies with stately courtesy within the walls of the fort. There they were again made welcome, and assigned to convenient quarters according to rank. Here they met Jason Lee, and Herbert Beaver and his wife,27 as we have seen before.
A few days of delightful repose were enjoyed. In matters of business the missionaries found McLoughlin willing to render them such assistance as the ample means of the company allowed, upon condition that men should not be employed at wages higher than the company's regular rates, or any other rules of the company's trade infringed upon.28
Having left at various points along the overland route nearly everything they had started with except their clothing, they were obliged to purchase with their winter's supply of provisions goods enough to load two bateaux, with which, at the end of the week, Whit-
27 Mr and Mrs Beaver remained in the country until the spring of 1838, when they went to England, having done little to advance the cause of reli- gion. The natural antagonism of McLoughlin and Beaver is mentioned in my History of the Northwest Coast. Mr Beaver evidently had some right on his side; but his manners were not suited either to the society at Fort Vancouver or the American settlement.
28 Deposition of W. H. Gray, in U. S. Ev., H. B. Co. Claims, 160-1.
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
man, Spalding, and Gray returned to Fort Walla Walla, leaving the women at Fort Vancouver until such time as a dwelling should be prepared for them.
The first stake was set at Waiilatpu, at the place first chosen by Parker among the Cayuses. With the assistance of the Indians and a man or two from the fort at Walla Walla, the first house was rapidly built out of such materials as were at hand. Another was hastily put up in the small valley of Lapwai, about a dozen miles above the mouth of the Kooskooskie, and before Christmas Dr and Mrs Whitman were settled at the first station, and Mr Spalding and his wife at the other.
It was now apparent that if Parker's engagements with the Flatheads or plans about the Spokanes were to be carried out, more missionaries must be brought into the field; and that no time might be lost, Gray was directed to return to the east the fol- lowing spring to procure reënforcements.29 This he did, travelling with Ermatinger, a trader of the British fur company, to the Flathead nation, whence he accompanied the Indians to the summer rendezvous of the Hudson's Bay traders on the Jefferson branch of the Missouri. At the rendezvous, several of the Flatheads offered or were induced to escort him; and he was joined by two young American adventurers who were to go with him to the Missouri River. At Ash Hollow, since famous in the history of Indian wars, his Flathead escort was attacked by a band of Sioux, and every one murdered, including a young chief called 'The Hat,' who had been partially edu- cated at Red River. Gray with his companions was saved by the intervention of a French trader, and succeeded, by travelling at night, in reaching the friendly tribes to the east, and finally in arriving at his destination. 30
29 Annual Report, A. B. C. F. M., 1848, 239; a document of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
30 Gray's Hist. Or., 168-74; Newell's Strictures on Gray's Hist. Or., in Port- land Democratic Herald, Oct. 1866.
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MISSIONS ESTABLISHED.
Gray was successful in enlisting for the mission three clergymen with their newly married wives, a young unmarried man, and a young woman who be- came his own wife. In a private letter written after her death in 1881, he says that it was an instance of love at first sight, which continued as long as her life. He met Miss Mary Augusta Dix, a handsome, stately brunette, on the evening of the 19th of February, 1838, and became engaged to her the same evening. Six days after, they were married, and on the morning of the 26th started westward to join the caravan of the American Fur Company
On account of the feeling among the Flatheads over the loss of five of their people and the young chief, in Gray's company, his destination as mis- sionary to them was changed, and he remained alter- nately at Lapwai and Waiilatpu, visiting several tribes both in eastern and western Oregon, and going back to secular pursuits after three or four years. A mis- sion was begun at Kamiah, sixty miles up the Clear- water, above Lapwai, by Rev. Asa B. Smith, in May 1839, and abandoned in 1841 on account of the hos- tility of the upper Nez Percés, who were in sympathy with the Flatheads. Thus, after all the expressed desire of this tribe for teachers, no Protestant mis- sionary was allowed to establish himself among them.
Elkinah Walker and Cushing C. Eells, with their wives, established a permanent mission on the Che- makane 31 branch of the Spokane River, within easy distance of Fort Colville. Cornelius Rogers became a teacher, first at Lapwai, and then at Waiilatpu.32
31 Chemakane, according to Wilkes, means 'the plain of springs,' from the fact that the streams sink in the earth, and passing underground a few miles, burst forth again in springs. Wilkes' Nar., U. S. Explr. Ex., iv. 483.
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